    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book III)]
    [October 27, 2004]
    [Pages 2769-2777]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in Findlay, Ohio
    October 27, 2004

        The President. Thank you all for coming. You know, it is such a
    beautiful day in Flag City, I think I'll just take off my jacket and
    stay a while. Thanks for coming out. You are lifting our spirits. We're
    honored you're here. And Laura and I have come
    with the great Senator from Georgia to not only
    ask for your vote but to ask for your help. We need your help coming
    down the stretch to get your friends and neighbors to go to the polls.
        We have a duty in our democracy to vote. We have an obligation to
    vote. So I'm asking you to tell your friends and neighbors about that
    obligation. Get our Republicans to go out there. Get independents to go
    out there. And find those discerning Democrats like Zell Miller and head them to the polls. And when you get them to the
    polls, remind them, if they want a safer America and a stronger America
    and a better America, to put me and Dick Cheney
    back in office.

        Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

    [[Page 2770]]

        The President. I have been traveling your State a lot, and I enjoy
    it. I have had a chance to say hello to a lot of the citizens from Ohio.
    And I've been telling them why they ought to put me back in office. But
    perhaps the most important reason why I ought to have 4 more years is so
    that Laura is the First Lady for 4 more years.
    I'm sure some will be able to relate to this story. You know, Laura and
    I went to the seventh grade together in San Jacinto Junior High in
    Midland, Texas. We became reacquainted. She was a public school
    librarian, and when I asked her to marry me, she said, ``Fine, but make
    me a promise.'' I said, ``Okay, what is it?'' She said, ``Promise me
    I'll never have to give a political speech.'' [Laughter] I said, ``Okay,
    you got a deal.'' Fortunately, she did not hold me to that promise. She
    is giving a lot of speeches, and when she does, the American people see
    a warm, compassionate, strong First Lady.
        I'm looking around. I see some people out there who are follically
    challenged. [Laughter] And think about that, it reminds me of my Vice
    President. [Laughter] Dick Cheney is a great
    Vice President. He does not have the waviest hair in the race.
    [Laughter] But you all will be pleased to hear, I didn't pick him
    because of his hairdo. I picked him because of his judgment. I picked
    him because of his experience. I picked him because he's getting the job
    done for the American people.
        It's a joy to travel with my friend Zell Miller. He's strong. He is courageous. He puts party aside and
    puts his country first, and for that, I am grateful.
        I call him Ox; you call him Congressman. Mike Oxley is as fine as they are in the House of Representatives.
    He's a good man, and I appreciate his service. And I want to thank his
    wife, Pat, for joining us as well. And I am proud
    to be up here, or close by, with the fine United States Senator, Michael
    DeWine. He's doing a good job for the people of
    Ohio, as is George Voinovich. Make sure
    you put George back in. And I appreciate Fran DeWine joining us. I want to thank Congressman Paul
    Gillmor for being here today.
        I want to thank your Governor, Bob Taft, for
    joining us today. Mr. Governor, I appreciate your service to the State
    of Ohio. I want to thank Jennette Bradley for joining us today, the Lieutenant Governor of the State
    of Ohio.
        I appreciate Mayor Iriti for joining us
    today. Mr. Mayor, you didn't ask me for any advice, but I'm going to
    give you some: Fill the potholes. Mayor Iriti is a good man, and I
    appreciate him being here. And I want to thank you, Mr. Mayor, for
    serving. I want to thank all the other State and local officials.
        I want to thank the Findlay High School Marching Band for joining
    us. I want to thank Wil Gravatt Band for joining
    us today.
        Most of all, I want to thank you all. I want to thank the grassroots
    activists, the people who are putting up the signs, the people making
    the phone calls, the people who have worked so hard to make this rally
    such a successful rally. I want to thank you for what you have done, and
    I want to thank you for what you are going to do, which is turn out that
    vote. And with your help, there is no doubt in my mind, we'll carry Ohio
    again and win a great victory on November the 2d.
        This election comes down to some clear choices for America's
    families, choices on issues of great consequence. The first clear choice
    is the most important because it concerns the security of your family.
    All progress on every other issue depends on the safety of our citizens.
    This will be the first Presidential election since September the 11th,
    2001. Americans will go to the polls in a time of war and of ongoing
    threat unlike any we have faced before. The terrorists who kill
    thousands of innocent people are still dangerous, and they are
    determined to strike. The outcome of this election will set the
    direction of the war against

    [[Page 2771]]

    terror. The most solemn duty of the American President is to protect the
    American people. If America shows uncertainty or weakness in this
    decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my
    watch.
        Since that terrible morning of September the 11th, 2001, we have
    fought the terrorists across the Earth, not for pride, not for power but
    because the lives of our citizens are at stake. Our strategy is clear.
    We have strengthened the protections for the homeland. We're reforming
    our intelligence capabilities. We're transforming the United States
    military. We will keep the All-Volunteer Army an all-volunteer army.
    There will be no draft. We are relentless. We are determined. We are
    staying on the offensive so we do not have to face these terrorists here
    at home.
        And we're spreading freedom and liberty. Some amazing things have
    happened in a short period of time. I want the youngsters here to
    understand what has happened in the world. In Afghanistan, 3\1/2\ years
    ago, young girls couldn't go to school. And if their mothers did not toe
    the line of the ideologues of hate who ran that country, they were
    whipped in the public square, sometimes executed in a sports stadium. We
    acted to defend ourselves. We upheld the doctrine that said, ``If you
    harbor a terrorist, you're equally as guilty as the terrorist.'' And in
    so doing, we liberated people from the clutches of those barbaric people
    called the Taliban. Millions of people went to vote in a Presidential
    election. The first voter was a 19-year-old woman. Freedom is on the march.
        It's never easy to go from tyranny to liberty, but that's where
    we're headed. There will be elections in Iraq. Think how far that
    country has come from the days of mass graves and torture chambers. I
    believe everybody in the world yearns to be free. I believe people deep
    in their soul want to live in a free society. I believe that because
    freedom is not America's gift to the world; freedom is the Almighty
    God's gift to each man and woman in this world.
        A President must lead with consistency and strength. In a war,
    sometimes you have to change your tactics but never your principles.
    Americans have seen how I do my job. Even when you might not agree with
    me, you know what I believe, you know where I stand, and you know what I
    intend to do. On good days and on bad days, whether the polls are up or
    the polls are down, I will do everything we can do to defend the
    American people and win this war against the terrorists. And I will
    always support the men and women who wear our Nation's uniform.
        We have got a great United States military. And I am proud to be
    their Commander in Chief. I want to thank the families of those who wear
    our Nation's uniform. I want to thank you for your sacrifices. I want to
    thank the veterans who are here today for having set such a great
    example for those who wear the uniform.
        As I've told families all across this country, we will make sure
    your loved ones have the support necessary to complete their missions.
    And that's why I went to the United States Congress and asked for $87
    billion of supplemental funding in September of 2003, necessary funding,
    important funding to support our troops in harm's way. And we received
    good support for that. As a matter of fact, the support was so strong
    that only 12 Members of the United States Senate voted against funding
    for our troops, 2 of whom were my opponent and
    his runningmate.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. Now, I would like for you to share this startling
    statistic with your friends and neighbors as you get them going to the
    polls: There were only 4 Members of the United States Senate--4 out of
    100--that voted to authorize the use of force and then voted against
    supporting our troops in harm's way, and 2 of those 4 were my
    opponent and his runningmate.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!

    [[Page 2772]]

        The President. Now, you might remember his--Senator Kerry's explanation about that vote. He said, ``I actually
    did vote for the $87 billion, right before I voted against it.'' Now, I
    haven't spent much time in the coffee shops of Findlay, but I suspect
    you're not going to find many people in this part of the world who talk
    that way.
        They kept pressing him about it. He's
    given four or five different explanations about the vote. One of the
    most interesting ones of all that speaks to my opponent, said, ``Well,
    the whole thing was just a complicated matter.'' [Laughter] There's
    nothing complicated about supporting our troops in harm's way.
        After repeatedly calling Iraq the ``wrong war'' and a ``diversion,''
    Senator Kerry, this week, seemed shocked to
    learn that Iraq was a dangerous place full of dangerous weapons.
    [Laughter] The Senator used to know that, even though he seems to have
    forgotten it over the course of the campaign. But that's why we went
    there. See, Iraq was a dangerous place run by a dangerous
    tyrant who hated the United States. And he
    had a lot of weapons. And we've seized or destroyed more than 400,000
    tons of munitions, including explosives at thousands of sites. And we're
    continuing to round up weapons nearly every day.
        Now, I want to remind you all, if Senator Kerry had had his way, we would still be taking our ``global
    test.''
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. And Saddam Hussein would
    still be in power, and he would control all those weapons and explosives
    and could have shared them with a terrorist enemy. Now, the
    Senator is making wild charges about missing
    explosives. One of his top foreign policy advisers admits he doesn't know the facts. He said, ``I don't know
    the truth,'' end quote. Well, think about that. The Senator is
    denigrating the actions of our troops and commanders in the field
    without knowing the facts. Our military is now investigating a number of
    possible scenarios, including that the explosives may have been moved
    before our troops even arrived at the site. This investigation is
    important, and it is ongoing. And a political candidate who jumps to
    conclusions without knowing the facts is not the person you want as the
    Commander in Chief.
        Unfortunately, that is part of a pattern. My opponent is throwing out the wild claim that he knows where bin
    Laden was in the fall of 2001 and that our
    military passed up a chance to get him at Tora Bora. You might remember
    that. He kept repeating that in the debates. Well, this is unjustified
    criticism of our military commanders in the field. This is the kind of--
    worst kind of Monday morning quarterbacking, what we've come to expect
    from him, however.
        In fact, our commander in Afghanistan, General Tommy Franks, recently wrote this about Tora Bora: ``The
    Senator's understanding of events does not
    square with reality.'' He went on to say--the General says, ``American
    Special Forces were actively involved in the search for the terrorists
    at Tora Bora'' and that ``intelligence reports at the time placed bin
    Laden in any of several countries.'' That's
    what Tommy Franks, who knew what he's talking about, said.
        Before Senator Kerry got into political
    difficulty and revised his views, he saw our actions in Tora Bora
    differently. In the fall of 2001, on national television, he said this
    about Tora Bora: ``I think we've been doing this pretty effectively, and
    we should continue to do it that way.'' At the time, the Senator said
    about Tora Bora: ``I think we have been smart. I think the
    administration leadership has done it well, and we are on the right
    track,'' end quote. All I can say about that is, I am George W. Bush,
    and I approve of that message.
        The security of our families is vital, and it's important to our
    people of this country to understand the records. Senator Kerry's record on national security has the far deeper
    problem than election-year flip-flopping. On the largest national
    security issues

    [[Page 2773]]

    of our time, he has been consistently wrong. When Ronald Reagan was
    confronting the Soviet Union at the height of the cold war, Senator
    Kerry said that President Reagan's policy of peace through strength was
    making America less safe. History has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong
    and President Ronald Reagan was right.
        When former President Bush led a coalition against Saddam
    Hussein in 1991, Senator Kerry voted against the use of forces to liberate Kuwait.
    History has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong and former President
    Bush was right.
        In 1994, just one year after the first bombing of the World Trade
    Center, Senator Kerry proposed massive cuts in
    America's intelligence budget, so massive that even his Massachusetts
    colleague, Ted Kennedy, opposed them.
    History has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong and--we have got to be
    fair--that Senator Kennedy was right.
        During the last 20 years, in key moments of challenge and decision
    for America, Senator Kerry has chosen the
    position of weakness and inaction. With that record, he stands in
    opposition not just to me but to the great tradition of the Democratic
    Party. The party of Franklin Roosevelt, the party of Harry Truman, the
    party of John Kennedy is rightly remembered for confidence and resolve
    in times of war and hours of crisis. Senator Kerry has turned his back
    on ``pay any price'' and ``bear any burden,'' and he has replaced those
    commitments with ``wait and see'' and ``cut and run.''
        Many Democrats in this country do not recognize their party anymore.
    And traveling Ohio, I want to speak to every one of them: If you believe
    that America should lead with strength and purpose and confidence in our
    ideals, I would be honored to have your support, and I'm asking for your
    vote.
        Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
        The President. The second clear choice in this election concerns
    your family's budget. When I ran for President 4 years ago, I pledged to
    lower taxes for American families. And I kept my word. We doubled the
    child credit to $1,000 per child to help our families. We reduced the
    marriage penalty. I believe the Tax Code ought to encourage marriage,
    not penalize marriage. We dropped the lowest bracket to 10 percent. We
    reduced income taxes for everybody that pays income taxes. After-tax
    income--that's money in your pocket--has gone up by about 10 percent
    since I became your President.
        And I want you to remind your friends and neighbors, when you're out
    there getting people to the polls, what this economy has been through.
    Six months prior to my arrival, the stock market was in serious decline.
    Then we had a recession. Then we had corporate scandals. But we passed
    what's called the Sarbanes-Oxley bill, a bill that makes it abundantly
    clear that we will not tolerate dishonesty in the boardrooms of America.
    And I want to thank Congressman Oxley for
    authoring this legislation. And then we got attacked on September the
    11th. Those attacks cost us about a million jobs in the 3 months after
    that fateful day.
        But our economic policies have led us back to growth. Our economy is
    growing at rates as fast as any in nearly 20 years. Homeownership in
    America is at an alltime high. We saw a lot of good farmland, flying in
    today. The farm incomes are up all across America. Our small businesses
    are flourishing. The entrepreneurial spirit is strong. We've added 1.9
    million new jobs since August of 2003. The national unemployment rate is
    5.4 percent. Let me put that in perspective for you: That's lower than
    the average rate of the 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s.
        I know there are placed hurting here in Ohio. I've traveled into
    those neighborhoods. I've talked about an economic plan to continue
    growth. But I want to remind

    [[Page 2774]]

    you that just last month, the unemployment rate in the State of Ohio
    went from 6.3 percent to 6 percent, and this great State added 5,500 new
    jobs in 1 month. We're on the move. We're moving forward.
        My opponent has very different plans for
    your budget. He's going to take a big chunk out of it.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. He voted against the child
    tax credit. He voted against marriage penalty relief. He voted against
    lower taxes. And if his way had prevailed, the average family in America
    would have been paying 2,000 more in taxes to the Federal Government.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. That may not seem like a lot to folks in Washington.
    It means a lot to people in Findlay, Ohio.
        He served in the United States Senate for
    20 years, and he's voted for higher taxes 98 times. That's five times
    every year he served in the Senate. I would call that a predictable
    pattern--[laughter]--a reliable indicator. [Laughter] When a Senator
    does something that often, he must really enjoy it. [Laughter] Around
    the campaign, he's been promising $2.2 trillion in new Federal spending.
    That's trillion with a ``T.'' That's a lot even for a Senator from
    Massachusetts. [Laughter]
        So they asked him, ``How are you going to
    pay for it?'' And he said that same old, tired line you've heard over
    and over again, ``We're going to tax the rich.'' Well, there's a problem
    with that. When you run up the top two brackets, you only raise between
    600 and 800 billion dollars. That's far short of the 2.2 trillion he has
    promised. I would call that a tax gap. And guess who gets to usually
    fill that tax gap?
        Audience member. We do!
        The President. You do. The good news is we're going to carry Ohio,
    and we're not going to let him tax you.
        The third choice in this election involves the quality of life for
    our Nation's families. A good education and quality health care are
    important for your future. As a candidate, I pledged to end the soft
    bigotry of low expectations by reforming our public schools. I kept my
    word. We passed a really good piece of reform legislation. We're raising
    the standards. We've increased Federal spending, but now we're asking
    for results. We want to measure. See, you can't solve a problem unless
    you've diagnosed the problem. And we're diagnosing problems all across
    America, and we're beginning to solve them. Our test scores in reading
    and math are up. We're closing achievement gaps for minority students
    all across America. We'll build on these reforms and extend them to our
    high schools so that no child is left behind in our country.
        We'll continue to improve life for our families by making health
    care more affordable and accessible. We'll make sure the poor and the
    indigent get health care in what's called community health centers.
    We'll make sure our low-income--our program for low-income--children in
    low-income families is fully subscribed so they get health care. To make
    sure health care is affordable, we'll help our small businesses. We'll
    allow them to pool together so they can spread risk and buy insurance at
    the same discounts big companies are able to do. We will expand health
    savings accounts, which will help our families and small-business
    owners.
        Let me tell you what else we need to do. We need to do something
    about these frivolous lawsuits that are running up the cost of medicine
    and running good doctors out of practice. I was in Canton the other day
    talking to a ob-gyn who got run out of business because these lawsuits
    made her premiums too high to practice medicine. And I met too many
    citizens not only in your State but across the country, too many moms,
    expectant moms, who are worried about their health care and the health
    care of their baby because these lawsuits have made ob-gyn care more
    scarce. This is a national problem. You cannot be pro-doctor, pro-
    patient, and pro-plaintiff-injury-

    [[Page 2775]]

    attorney at the same time. You've got to make a choice. My
    opponent made his choice, and he put a
    personal injury trial lawyer on the ticket.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. I have made my choice. I'm standing with the doctors
    of Ohio. I'm standing with the patients of Ohio. I'm for medical
    liability reform--now.
        In one of our debates, my opponent looked
    straight in the camera when they asked him about his health care plan,
    and he said, ``The Government doesn't have anything to do with it.''
    I'll be frank with you, I could barely contain myself. The Government
    has got a lot to do with his plan. Eighty percent of the people who sign
    up on his plan would end up on the Government. See, if you make it
    easier for people to sign up for Medicaid, it means small businesses are
    likely not to provide insurance for their employees because the
    Government will provide insurance for their employees. That's logical.
    And when the Government starts writing the checks, the Government starts
    making the rules. And when it comes to health care when the Government's
    making the rules, the Government starts making decisions for you and
    decisions for your doctor. The wrong prescription for health care in
    America is to increase the role of the Federal Government. In all we do
    to improve health care, we'll make sure the decisions are made by
    patients and doctors, not by officials in Washington, DC.
        The fourth clear choice in this election comes to your retirement.
    Our Nation has made a solemn commitment to America's seniors on Social
    Security and Medicare. When I ran for President 4 years ago, I promised
    to keep that commitment and improve Medicare by adding prescription drug
    coverage. I kept my word. We have modernized Medicare for our seniors.
    Beginning in 2006, all seniors will be able to get prescription drug
    coverage under Medicare.
        And we'll keep our promise for Social Security for our seniors, and
    we will strengthen Social Security for generations to come. I remember
    the campaign in 2000. I remember those ads they were running. You might
    remember them. They said, ``If George W. gets elected, the seniors are
    not going to get their checks.'' They may be doing it again this year. I
    want you to remind your friends and neighbors as you get them to the
    polls that George W. did get elected, and our seniors did get their
    checks. And our seniors will continue to get their checks. Nobody's
    going to take away your check. Baby boomers like me, we're in pretty
    good shape when it comes to the Social Security trust. We'll probably
    get our checks.
        But we need to worry about our children and our grandchildren. We
    need to worry about whether or not the Social Security system will be
    there for them when they retire. That's why I believe younger workers
    ought to be able to take some of their own money--some of their own
    payroll taxes--and put it in a personal savings account, an account they
    call their own, an account the Government cannot take away.
        Now, my opponent takes a different
    approach. He says he's going to strengthen Social Security; he's going
    to protect it. But you might remember, he is the only candidate in this
    race who has voted eight times for higher taxes on Social Security
    benefits.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. He doesn't like talking
    about that. He can run, but he cannot hide.
        And he offered nothing for the younger
    generation in terms of reform. The job of a President is to confront
    problems, not to pass them on to future Presidents and future
    generations. In a new term, I will bring Republicans and Democrats
    together to strengthen the Social Security system for generations to
    come.
        And the final choice in this election is on the values that are so
    crucial to keeping our families strong. And here, my opponent

    [[Page 2776]]

    and I are miles apart. I stand for the appointment of Federal judges who
    know the difference between personal opinion and the strict
    interpretation of the law. I believe marriage is a sacred commitment, a
    pillar of our civilization, and I will defend it. This is not a partisan
    issue. When Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act, defining
    marriage as a union of a man and a woman, the vast majority of Democrats
    supported it and President Bill Clinton
    signed it into law. But Senator Kerry was part
    of an out-of-the-mainstream minority that voted against the Defense of
    Marriage Act.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. I believe that reasonable people can find common
    ground on difficult issues. Republicans and Democrats came together and
    agreed we should ban the brutal practice of partial-birth abortion. I
    proudly signed that bill. But Senator Kerry
    was part of an out-of-the-mainstream minority that voted against the
    ban.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. He voted against parental
    notification laws and against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. I will
    continue to reach out to Americans of every belief and move this
    goodhearted Nation toward a culture of life.
        At one point in this campaign, you might remember this: My
    opponent said that the heart and soul of
    America can be found in Hollywood.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. Most American families do not look toward--to
    Hollywood as a source of values. The heart and soul of America is found
    in communities like Flag City, Ohio.
        All these choices make this one of the most important elections in
    our history. The security and prosperity of our country, the health and
    education of our families, the retirement of our citizens, and the
    direction of our culture are all at stake. And the decision is in the
    best of hands. It is in the hands of the American people. It is in your
    hands. You get to decide. And that gives me great confidence.
        See, I'm optimistic about this country and our future. One of my
    favorite quotes is from a fellow Texan named Tom Lea. He said this, he said, ``Sarah and I live on the east
    side of the mountain. It is the sunrise side, not the sunset side. It is
    the side to see the day that is coming, not to see the day that is
    gone.'' During the course of this campaign, my opponent has spent much of his campaign talking about the day that
    is gone. I'm talking about the day that's coming.
        We've been through a lot together. We have been through a lot
    together during the last nearly 4 years. Because we've done the hard
    work of climbing the mountain, we can see the valley below. The next 4
    years, we'll work to protect our families, build our prosperity, and
    defend our values. We will work hard to spread freedom and liberty so we
    can achieve the peace we want for generations to come.
        Four years ago, when I traveled your great State asking for the
    vote, I made you this pledge, that if I was elected to the office I
    hold, I would uphold the honor and its dignity. With your help, with
    your hard work, I will do so for 4 more years.
        Thanks for coming. God bless. Thank you all. Thanks for coming.

    Note: The President spoke at 4:20 p.m. at the Hancock County
    Fairgrounds. In his remarks, he referred to Senator Zell Miller of
    Georgia, who made the keynote address at the 2004 Republican National
    Convention; Fran DeWine, wife of Senator Mike DeWine; Gov. Bob Taft and
    Lt. Gov. Jennette B. Bradley of Ohio; Mayor Anthony P. Iriti of Findlay,
    OH; entertainers the Wil Gravatt Band; former President Saddam Hussein
    of Iraq; Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization;
    and Gen. Tommy R. Franks, USA (Ret.), former combatant commander, U.S.
    Central Command.

    [[Page 2777]]